Brain and physiological signal analysis from infancy to adolescence

The advent of precision medicine demands better tools for measuring human structure and function. The period from infancy to adolescence is a particularly important period of the lifespan where this lack of diagnostic and prognostic tools is felt in earnest. We measure signals from the brain and body (e.g. heart, lungs) to reveal important information on human health. The rise of machine learning and AI has delivered powerful new methods for data analysis, with which we develop tools that can track developmental trajectories more accurately and in more detail than ever before. We aim to evaluate these tools as developmental biomarkers and diagnostic tools to detect disease and monitor the response to interventions.

There are several opportunities for student-led projects across multiple large-scale datasets spanning EEG, neuroimaging (MRI), sleep physiology, cognitive performance, behavioural measures, and environmental factors. Projects are available for students at Honours, Masters, and PhD levels, and can be tailored in scope and methodological depth accordingly.

Students will have access to large, multimodal datasets including:

• Resting-state and sleep EEG
• Structural and functional MRI
• Brain-Cardiorespiratory physiological coupling during sleep
• Cognitive and behavioural measures including psychological profiles (where available)
• Environmental and developmental risk/protective factors

These datasets span infancy through adolescence and include both typically developing and atypically developing cohorts (e.g., Healthy Brain Network).

Depending on interests, topics could include:

• Development of age-maturing head models for EEG source reconstruction
• Brain connectivity across childhood neurodevelopmental disorders
• Brain Age applications to understanding cognitive and behavioural development
• Brain–heart–lung coupling during sleep as a marker of developmental maturation
• Investigation of environmental factors that shift developmental brain trajectories toward vulnerability or resilience.